The Unicef Museum of Reality project, which shows visitors the experience of reality of children in Croatia and elsewhere in the world, via a series of installations, virtual reality displays and live exhibits, will be staged in Zagreb's Gric tunnel on December 1-11, as part of the larger Advent in Zagreb Christmas festival.
This year, Museum of Reality, will use artefacts and displays to illustrate common things shared by a typical Croatian family from the city of Split and a family from Bangladesh, how their family is connected with another family from Jordan.
They will also see what it is like to become part of a family of a girl growing up in a children’s home.
“The most valuable things in our lives are not material. The most valuable thing is family, made up of people who are with us at all times, who give us support, safety, and love,” the organisers said in a press release announcing the project, adding that the project aims to raise awareness how all families in the world are in some ways the same, even if they seem different due to different circumstances of their daily life.
Unicef said that by visiting this year’s Museum of Reality, where admission is free of charge, visitors will support their Every Child Needs a Family campaign and in doing so help provide foster care for children in need.
Since 2015, the Museum of Reality was staged at Zagreb’s Museum of Illusions, and organisers said that this year’s change of venue, to a 350-metre underground tunnel in the city centre which was originally built during WW II to serve as an air raid shelter, would support the concept of the exhibition as a “passage through reality”.
“The fourth year of our project is special because the Museum is now venturing into a unique Zagreb tunnel, which will serve to bring the exhibition even closer to locals and visitors. This year, the Museum will try to remind everyone of the most valuable thing we have in life – our family. Many children in Croatia are still waiting to find a family of their own, so we invite everyone to visit the Museum, experience something new, and help change reality,” head of Unicef Croatia, Djurdjica Ivkovic, said.
Earlier this month, an NGO promoting adoptions said that there are currently about 3,000 Croatian children in foster care or children’s homes waiting to be adopted, with only 1,300 potential adopters registered. Moreover, adoption rates continue to be very low, due to strict legal requirements and notorious red tape, with only 126 successful adoptions during the whole of 2017.
The Museum will be open to visitors every day from 9 am to 10 pm until December 11, and admission is free of charge.
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